


Fountain of Youth

by KatStrat17



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M, Post DH, Post-Battle of Hogwarts, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, They live AU, Work In Progress
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-03
Updated: 2020-12-03
Packaged: 2021-03-10 10:22:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,719
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27849314
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KatStrat17/pseuds/KatStrat17
Summary: A world where the gravity of Voldemort is understood without narrative orphan symmetry. Series containing specific post-war AU moments in the lives of Remus, Tonks, and Teddy. Hopefully will become more lighthearted.
Relationships: Remus Lupin/Nymphadora Tonks
Comments: 4
Kudos: 21





	Fountain of Youth

**Author's Note:**

> I've always liked the idea of Harry coming to live with Remus and Tonks for a while after the war, so we're toying with that specific headcannon. Also, decided that *someone* needed to die in place of the two of them, so sorry about that.

Tonks was jolted awake by movement outside the front door. She sat up quickly, heart pounding. She had been falling in and out of sleep for hours, trying not to focus on what she knew was happening hundreds of miles away from her, what violence and tragedies were likely taking place. She had carefully rocked the baby to sleep hours ago, shushing him and whispering, more for her own assurance, that everything would be fine. He slept beside the couch now, in his little yellow cot, unaware of the gravity of the world changing around them. Tonks held her breath. Then, the door opened, and two figures appeared behind it, ragged and streaked with blood and grime. Tonks only had eyes for the nearer of the two; a tall man with greying hair and ill-fitting robes. Remus.

Tonks closed her eyes briefly and let out a choked breath of relief, feeling the tightening of tears in her chest. Then she was off the couch and wrapping her arms around him in a desperate, clinging attempt to assure herself of the realness of him. His arms came up around her waist immediately, clutching her tightly as she buried her face in the space between his shoulder and neck.

“Oh god, Remus,” Tonks said, her voice straining with emotion, “I thought you were…I was so worried. Thank Merlin. Thank fucking Merlin,” she whispered, tears starting to fall. She pulled back, regarding for the first time the other figure standing behind him, slightly awkward.

“Harry!” she exclaimed, embracing him as well. “Oh, it’s _so_ good to see you.”

Harry smiled wanly. “You too, Tonks.” He looked dead on his feet, but his voice seemed genuine.

Tonks looked between the two of them, searching their faces for some scrap of information. “So?” she implored. “What happened? Is- is it over?”

“It’s over,” Remus said firmly. “It’s finished, Dora.” She took a steadying breath, then let it out in relief. She seemed incapable of speech, so Remus took her gently by the arm and moved her to the couch, pressing her to sit. She did, looking down to the small child sleeping peacefully below her. He moved into the kitchen, presumably to make tea. Tonks noticed that Harry was still lingering uncertainly in the doorway.

“Come sit, Harry,” Tonks said, smiling at him again. Harry did so, cautiously, looking at the baby with frightened interest, as if his very presence might wake him. Tonks noticed him looking and laughed slightly. “Don’t worry, he’ll like you. I’m sure of it,” Tonks reassured him gently.

“Er- right,” Harry said, brow creased.

After a beat, Tonks inquired again, “So he’s- he’s dead then? You Know Who?” She was hesitant to press them but was chomping at the bit for information.

“Yes,” Harry said quietly.

“And what about Bellatrix?” Tonks asked, more steel in her voice.

“Dead.”

Tonks swallowed, hard. “Finally,” she breathed. “Who did her in?”

Remus re-entered the living room and placed a steaming mug in front of Harry, before handing another to his wife. He raised an eyebrow. “Molly Weasley,” he said, his voice wry.

“Molly?” Tonks said, awed. “She always did have a bit of bite, didn’t she?” She sipped her tea. “Molly. Wow. Good on her.” Remus murmured his agreement, eyes roving Tonks’ face as if he’d thought he might never see it again. He settled into the armchair across from Harry and Tonks, leaning his head back, exhausted.

“Who did we lose?” Tonks asked quietly, her breath catching.

Remus met her eyes instantly. “Dora-”

“Remus, please.”

He cleared his throat, before saying hoarsely, “Fred.”

“Fred?” she whispered, horrified. Remus’ head jerked in a nod, and Tonks felt the tears again, unbidden.

“And,” Remus paused, “and Arthur.” He closed his eyes, and Tonks felt Harry shift on the couch beside her.

“Oh no.” Tonks breathed, “oh, Merlin, no. Oh, Molly.” The tears were slipping down her pale cheeks now, sliding off her sharp chin into the tea below. Remus had his head in his hands, and Harry seemed to be lost, looking blankly into the middle ground. The silence expanded around them, seemingly swallowing all possibility of words.

Then a high cry pierced the thick air. Teddy was awake. Tonks set her mug down on the coffee table and was instantly raising him up from his cot, cradling him gently against her shaking chest.

“He’s hungry,” Tonks said, standing, “I’ll go- erm”, she nodded to the bedroom, and Harry’s cheeks flushed slightly. He really was very unaccustomed to small children. “Mum made about three weeks’ worth of meals last night, if you’re hungry, Harry. I think she was panicking,” she explained needlessly. Andromeda was asleep now in the guest bedroom of the Lupins’ small cottage, far more capable of sleep than her daughter had been. Tonks wanted to say something else; offer Harry the shower or the spare bedroll or a heartfelt thank you, but in the end, she just turned and moved into the bedroom. Remus followed her.

“Love,” Remus said quietly, shutting the door. Tonks turned, tears already streaking her fair cheeks. Teddy fussed at her breast as she struggled to unclasp her bra one-handed.

“Mmm?” she choked out, as the baby finally managed to latch on. Tonks brushed his small croft of auburn hair out of his face and Teddy scrunched his nose up in response, mouthing at her hungrily.

Remus said nothing, just moved to stand behind her, wrapping his arms around her waist and leaning his head against hers, kissing her temple gently. In the silence, with the midmorning sun filtering gently down through the window, and her husband at her back, it was easy to pretend the world actually _was_ at peace, to ignore the casualty and ruin and let joy slot carefully into the place where the biting, vicious fear had sat for the last three years. The tears continued to fall, grief and relief battling for control. She thought of Molly, how she must be feeling. She had seen her own mother grieving the loss of a husband over the last few months and knew that Molly might never be the same. To lose a husband and a child in one night- her heart leaped uncomfortably at the thought. Teddy pulled away, wriggling, and Tonks concluded that he was finished with his breakfast.

“Alright, little lad,” she said, a small, hiccupping laugh interrupting her tears. “All finished?” Teddy wiggled his small nose again, his hair fading to a darker, contented brown. Remus’ hands moved up from her waist to refasten her bra for her, pulling her t-shirt down over her breasts. He rubbed his hands up and down her arms, kissing the shell of her ear, then moving down to press his face between her neck and shoulder. Tonks thinks that he, too, may well have been crying. He was always fond of Arthur, and heaven knows he has a soft spot for troublemakers.

“Dora,” he croaked, chafing his thumb on Teddy’s small cheek, “I…” Tonks turned in his arms, meeting his eyes with her dark ones. “I love you,” he said finally.

Tonks found herself resisting the urge to laugh and say that he bleeding better, after all this time. Instead, she just smiled, whispering the words back to him against his lips as she leaned in to kiss him. He met her with a sense of urgency, moving his mouth against hers desperately, his hand coming up to palm her jaw, tilting her head further up to meet his more soundly. A soft coo from the child still secured in Tonks’ arms served to remind Remus of his presence. He let out a breath of laughter against her mouth, then looked down at the boy.

“Hello, son.” Teddy gurgled a response. “You’re looking rather handsome today, if I do say so myself." From the other room, they heard the faint sound of the radio being turned on. Must've been Harry, growing restless. Static trickled in and out as the voices became clearer, announcing the end of the Second Wizarding War.

“Remus.” A question has been toying in the back of her head since the moment he’d returned. He looked up to meet her gaze. “Why is Harry here?” He looked almost affronted for a moment before she corrected herself. “No- no I mean, why is he _here._ I would’ve thought he’d want to be with his lot.”

“Ah.” Remus nodded in understanding. “Well, Hermione plans to set off almost immediately tomorrow to see her parents- she’s very fastidious, that way. And Ron- well, I figured he, and Ginny, and Molly deserved their space. I think it’s about time I stepped up for him.” He looked down at her, steel in his eyes.

Tonks smiled, nodding gently as she pushed his greying fringe out of his eyes.

“And for you and Ted, as well.” His voice was quieter now, but no less intense. “I’m not good enough for you, Dora-" she tried to interrupt him, but he silenced her with a hand on her arm. "No, listen- I never have been, but I’m going to be. There’s nothing I want more desperately than to deserve you.”

Tonks was stunned, seemingly unable to do anything but stare up at him. Finally, she nodded, once. A soldier’s nod. She broke her gaze away from him and sniffled slightly, adjusting her grip on the baby. “Well, then.” she said, trying to conceal the emotion in her voice, “I suggest you start by taking a shower. You’ve got half of the Hogwarts’ grounds on your robes.”

Remus' laugh was forced, but he agreed. He kissed her again, whispering words of love against her limp brown hair before moving out of the room to the shower.

“Well,” Tonks said, looking down at Teddy again. “That’s that all sorted then. What should we do now, hmm? Wake gran up and have her make us some brekky? Sounds like a fine idea to me.” She tickled the boy under his chin. “I think you might just like living with your godfather and mummy and daddy.” Tonks raised her head, looking out the window towards the field beyond, swamped in warm light and dotted with the purple buds of early May. “Yeah, you’re gonna have a grand old life here, Teddy.”

**Author's Note:**

> J.K. Rowling created this world but has no ownership over the identities we choose to express through her characters. Be yourself, and know that you are loved.


End file.
